When Jim Felt left Easton to forge his name as a pro road bike builder, I doubt he would have believed that his name would be plastered on the oversized downtubes of long-travel, carbon fiber, dual-suspension bikes - even if you could have flashed a photograph from the future as evidence. Bill Duehring was vice president of GT bicycles back in 1998, when it was at the top of the charts. No doubt, Duehring would have been equally astounded if you could have shown him evidence of GT's untimely collapse and his subsequent success as co-founder and the president of Felt Bicycles. The synergy of a maverick bike builder who broke every rule to design some off the world's fastest TT and Triathlon bikes and a hard-working exec' who helped turn a BMX brand into a global player in the mountain bike industry attracted a relatively small group of highly motivated like-minded people who crank out an outstanding range of bicycles from Felt's headquarters in Irvine, California.
Mountain bike manager Scott Sharples
ensured Felt's 2015 spec was spot on.
Welcome to Felt Bicycles
We are at Felt's 2015 product launch, which is more like an open house affair - staffed by its entire team and staged in the parking lot in front of the building on 12 Chrysler Way. A walk across the tarmac reveals the depth of talent there. Lined up alongside beautifully painted aluminum balloon-tire retro cruisers are $14,000 time trial and Triathlon bikes with razor-thin frame tubes, electric shifting and integrated data collection. Beyond them are rows of burley, 160-millimeter-travel AM/trailbikes. Beneath a tent are a dozen urban models, styled like they came from Amsterdam, circa-1950. Somewhere between all that is a huge stable of pro road and cyclocross racers. The variety of models present at the launch may lead one to believe that Felt is one of those bike brands that fishes for business by making one of everything, but nothing could be further from the truth. Look closely and it becomes evident that, while Felt offers a wildly diverse range, each model is defined by a purpose and executed to a very high standard of quality.
Felt's team of designers, engineers and marketing people are given the freedom to make the bikes that they are most passionate about. My only caveat, says Bill Duehring, is that if it wears the Felt name, then I insist that it must to be the best in its category. No problem there, everyone seems to live and breathe bikes. Jim Felt jokes that he has spent a significant percentage of his life in a wind tunnel, and when they are not racing, the mountain bike group, thanks to their proximity to three popular trail networks, spend as much time on the dirt as they do staring at their computer displays. The road bike crew can be easily recognized by the distinct farmer's tan that comes from living in Lycra and pounding out miles.Variety also lends a hand in honing the technology and designs there, because Felt's small staff of designers and engineers are tasked with any and all projects at hand. After designing a hydro-formed aluminum downtube for a Compulsion AM bike, the same engineer may have to figure out how to form a cruiser top tube to look like a gas tank. This has been a critical factor that has catapulted Felt to the forefront of carbon construction and layup methods. Design engineer Brendan Connors remarked that, once Felt learned how to make a 700-gram road frame that could handle the ProTour guys, it was relatively simple to apply that knowledge to produce a 900-gram 29er hardtail XC racer. The reverse is true, as producing the convoluted shapes and component interfaces required for a carbon dual-suspension chassis can lay the groundwork for solving problems, like integrating brakes inside of TT forks and frames.
| Felt's team of designers, engineers, and marketing people are given the freedom to make the bikes that they are most passionate about. My only caveat is that, if it wears the Felt name, then it must to be the best in its category. - Bill Duehring: President, Felt Bicycles |
COMPULSION 10: AM/Enduro Racing COMPULSION 30
VIRTUE 1: TrailbikeVIRTUE 60
EDICT FRD: XC Racer
NINE 1: XC Racer
Every new Trek bicycle comes with our industry's best warranty and loyalty program - Trek Care. Once your Trek Bicycle is registered the Trek Bicycle Corporation provides each original retail purchaser of a Trek bicycle a warranty against defects in materials and workmanship, as stated below:
LIFETIME
Frames for the lifetime of the original owner (except forks, the Session, Scratch, Slash, and Ticket model frames, and the swing arms on all full suspension bicycles)
I am not bitching about a used frame, just that if you own a 2 years old bike that retailed for almost $5K with an obvious defect, the manufacturer should at least offer a decent reply and/or options to fix the frame (not free, of course)
www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2014/Bikes/Electric/All-Terrain/LEBOWSKe.aspx
Obviously feeling all emo I decided to lash out. Isn't that the point of PB?
Sure E-bikes exist. But on this article on new Felts for 2015, the 50 lb e fat bike got no mention, while people are drooling on some beach cruiser.
@ Paul, what are you talking about? something new? E-bikes? How about the fact that all of todays motorcycles are based off some crazy idea to put a gas motor on a bike a hundred years ago? This is nothing new my friend. They basically re-released the idea of mopeds 100 years after the fact. The deal is now we have dope motorcycles that can be bought new for the price of a Felt Ebike. Marketing Grossness.
People on this site are narrow minded and think mtb are the only bikes worth even looking at. Ive got a CCM cruiser from the 40's that is almost fully rebuilt and I would be lying if I said it wasn't one of the coolest bikes I've ever ridden.
Yeah I guess if shimano can make quality bike parts and quality fishing reels, good for them. Can't be sour on that. And if a bike company can make e-mopeds...
Again I initially posted an innocent little pun (if you'll look back up), and within an hour had gotten way neg propped for it.
Admittedly I shouldn't of cared about internet points, but I assumed a few Felt fans were like, "ZOMG! sweet cruiser bike! And finally a tiny road bike to escape my life's tiny problems. who is trying to pun away this rad post? down vote!" and then I was pretty much F*ck F*lt, and the Felt fans.
Personally I always thought Felt sucked, but sure, you are allowed to like them.
Lastly, again what are you talking about? I ride bmx, road bikes, beach cruisers, and yes, even an electric beach cruiser. It's all good, Paul. You like cruisers? So do I. Whats up with calling people narrow minded?
Just upvote my pun, and walk away. It's all I ever wanted from you stranger.
As carbon has no fatigue limit (it can be stressed under it's elastic limit an infinite number of times without failure through fatigue) as metals do, there shouldn't be any problems with fatigue.